duty of care - psychiatric injury

Question 1

what is psychiatric damage?

Answer 1

damage to the mind rather than the body

issues only arise when only psychiatric injury is suffered or when the claimant is not involved in the tortious incident

Question 2

what did Alcock v Chief Constable South Yorkshire Police [1991] bring about?

Answer 2

the concept of primary and secondary victims

Question 3

who would constitute a primary victim?

Answer 3

a person who suffers injury (physical and psychiatric) as a result of negligence
a person who has no physical injury but develops psychiatric injury as a result of fear for their own safety

Question 4

who would be a secondary victim?

Answer 4

a person who witnesses an accident and suffers psychiatric injury as a result of fear for other’s safety

Question 5

what are the requirements to be a secondary victim?

Answer 5

psychiatric harm must have been induced by shock
event likely to have resulted in harm in a person of reasonable fortitude
proximity

Question 6

what are the tests for proximity?

Answer 6

closeness of relationship to victim - sufficiently close tie of love and affection with a primary victim (spouse and child automatic others assessed by the courts)
closeness to accident in space and time - immediate aftermath
physical zone of danger